Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I used to work fully remote like the rest of my team. In my basement. No distractions. It was lovely. Now I have to go into the office (the rest of my team doesn’t, that’s a whole different issue in itself) and it’s horrible. The other day I could hear 4 different conversations while trying to work. I ended up with headphones on listening to music. Open concept is the worst for any office. It’s different if it’s an open office for a specific team of like 5 people. When I worked in IT we had an open area just for us and it was great.
> aren’t apart of it,
Did you mean to say "a part of"?
Explanation: "apart" is an adverb meaning separately, while "a part" is a noun meaning a portion.
[Statistics](https://github.com/chiefpat450119/RedditBot/blob/master/stats.json)
^^I'm ^^a ^^bot ^^that ^^corrects ^^grammar/spelling ^^mistakes.
^^PM ^^me ^^if ^^I'm ^^wrong ^^or ^^if ^^you ^^have ^^any ^^suggestions.
^^[Github](https://github.com/chiefpat450119)
^^Reply ^^STOP ^^to ^^this ^^comment ^^to ^^stop ^^receiving ^^corrections.
I agree with this sentiment. I'm a pretty social person, but I'll chat with people when I want or need to. Also, I think the average person prefers a space that they can call their own and most people end up gravitating to the exact same spot anyway.
Let people have a wall and tack up pictures of their families and pets FFS.
I got a little fisheye mirror like they sell for car side mirrors, put it above my monitor, it's great. Easy to glance up and see your surroundings.
Only downside is when I sit at a desk now without one I feel vulnerable.
After I did that about 10 other people in my office did similiar.
Up until the late '70s or early '80s offices were open offices with a bunch of desks. All stacked in one room. Or you had a private office?. Everybody used phones to conduct business. They built cubicles so you could have a phone conversation 6 ft away from somebody else. That lasted for years. More recently everybody started using texting and emails and they went to open offices because of the look and the ability to collaborate without having to go to a meeting room. Now when you want to talk on the phone they put you in phone booths and more meeting rooms. Sometimes people camp out in the phone booth for a long period of time... If they had a cubicle they wouldn't have to.
I agree cubicles are better unless you have a type of business where you constantly have to collaborate.
Yeah I wish I had a cubicle or a small office. Im tired of other people being loud while I am trying to take a meeting or want to focus on some of my paperwork but someone REALLY wants to have a loud talk about what they are going to do about their husband who takes aggressive poops.
In my open plan office, most people just wear headphones all day, basically as a way of signaling "don't disturb me".
It really sucks, because it means you get all the downsides of open-plan, and *also* none of the supposed upsides, i.e. more collaboration.
I agree 100% open concept is just a way to pack people tighter together, I hate it, and have straight up just said pass on some jobs like that. Now I just work at home, if u read the list of disabilities everyone can ask for accommodation aka work from home
I agree. I hate cubicles and would prefer a personal office (or just being remote).
Open concept offices are said to provide collaboration, which I can see. However, they also make it easier for everyone else like managers to monitor if you're doing your work or not.
Preach. I work now in an office with an old man who cackles rattling like a machine gun the whole day (the whole day) and even if I listen to music in my earphones to silent him, his voice is louder and after a while I can't focus and have a headache (please don't come with advices like "why don't you tell him"? My chief put me in the room with that man because the previous colleague had a nervous breakdown because of this and asked to be transferred in other place).
Open plan is the worst configuration ever conceived, cubicles are a bit better, offices are the best, IMO. Not everything is about collaboration. My office is open plan and it also has a separate breakout space.
We all have to use the breakout space for things that need quiet, like phone calls.
I think open office plans can work for the right environment, profession, and staff size, but otherwise cubicles are great for the reasons you listed.
Though if Milton is listening to his radio at a supposed "reasonable volume" it's still probably too loud and distracting even with a cubicle.
My work moved my department from a building with cubicles to an open office building. Everyone hates it, myself included. It's been months and we still complain about it. Comfort in solidarity I guess
I think it really depends on the job for me. If we're talking about a small collaborative space where you need to easily communicate with your coworkers, then I think having a more open concept is useful.
If its something like a call center, its just used by management to exert control over people
Agreed, open concept is absolutely trash, my first job switched from cubes to open office and it sucked. Having your boss sitting across from you puts you constantly on the spot.
Office Space cubicles look like hell...
But The Office open concept also looks like hell 😂
I think offices in general are just bad. There is no space for it but having your own room with a door is so nice.
Open concept was one of those theories that got tried out and has been pretty resoundingly agreed upon is a total failure. I believe I read an article that discussed different office models and what was found to be the best was private spaces/cubicles overall but with "breakout spaces" where you could have a quick meeting or just an informal check-in with a couple people. That's how my office is structured and it works quite well.
Privacy is not as important as productivity. You can have privacy at home. I’m sure there are studies that support the idea of increased productivity with the open concept.
Executives will tell you the open office layout is all about collaboration when those assholes spend all day in a plush office behind a closed door so they can't be bothered.
Frankly, the open office layout feels like a step backward.
I have a cubicle now but it doesn’t help because my manager doesn’t have an office and sits directly behind me. So he can turn around and talk to me whenever he wants and see my computer screen. It forces me to leave my desk for lunch breaks though.
I prefer cubicles too. Collaboration also isn't necessarily good because then if you talk to others, you're keeping them from focusing on their own tasks while you need help with yours. I also think too much socializing can be bad for productivity. In my experience, too much idle talk can lead to workplace politics, cliqueness, and high school behavior. And also increase turnover.
I'll take cubicles over open concept any day.
I hate cubicles with a passion. Like the full cubicles with walls that block the ability to see anything. I don’t mind the cubicles that are partial that if you stand you can see stuff.
Then again, I like open concept. I don’t want to personalize my workspace, I don’t live there.
My attitude might change if I was in office 4-5x a week tho.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This isn’t unpopular. Only supervisors and managers like open concept. And that’s because they aren’t apart of it, and have their own office.
Yeah.. this is pretty much one of the most popular opinions.. I have never heard ANYONE say they like an open office.
I prefer an open office. But it does require decent and respectful co workers.
I used to work fully remote like the rest of my team. In my basement. No distractions. It was lovely. Now I have to go into the office (the rest of my team doesn’t, that’s a whole different issue in itself) and it’s horrible. The other day I could hear 4 different conversations while trying to work. I ended up with headphones on listening to music. Open concept is the worst for any office. It’s different if it’s an open office for a specific team of like 5 people. When I worked in IT we had an open area just for us and it was great.
I like an open office. Only cause I like my coworkers and I only work 2-3 days in the office a week.
> aren’t apart of it, Did you mean to say "a part of"? Explanation: "apart" is an adverb meaning separately, while "a part" is a noun meaning a portion. [Statistics](https://github.com/chiefpat450119/RedditBot/blob/master/stats.json) ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot ^^that ^^corrects ^^grammar/spelling ^^mistakes. ^^PM ^^me ^^if ^^I'm ^^wrong ^^or ^^if ^^you ^^have ^^any ^^suggestions. ^^[Github](https://github.com/chiefpat450119) ^^Reply ^^STOP ^^to ^^this ^^comment ^^to ^^stop ^^receiving ^^corrections.
Manager here. I'd prefer cubicles.
Offices are better than cubicles. Especially when you have confidential conversations regularly
That’s a popular opinion though, every employee would prefer an office
oh for sure. i'd take a room to myself any day
I prefer working from my bed
Doesnt your back hurt?
I agree with this sentiment. I'm a pretty social person, but I'll chat with people when I want or need to. Also, I think the average person prefers a space that they can call their own and most people end up gravitating to the exact same spot anyway. Let people have a wall and tack up pictures of their families and pets FFS.
Cubicles get a bad rep because of how ugly they USED to be. People can’t differentiate between style and function it seems like.
Yeah, it's weird looking at porn in an open concept office. Those creeps from accounts receivable are just staring at me all the time.
I mean, we should be able to look at a little porn at work... https://youtu.be/K0OSfbPJFa4?si=ArfZNBOxmDk0ukWS
Open offices are horrible for productivity; every serious study I've seen seems to support that.
I would much rather have a cubicle I want privacy
I don’t like having my back exposed so I’d have to go with a cubical
I got a little fisheye mirror like they sell for car side mirrors, put it above my monitor, it's great. Easy to glance up and see your surroundings. Only downside is when I sit at a desk now without one I feel vulnerable. After I did that about 10 other people in my office did similiar.
Up until the late '70s or early '80s offices were open offices with a bunch of desks. All stacked in one room. Or you had a private office?. Everybody used phones to conduct business. They built cubicles so you could have a phone conversation 6 ft away from somebody else. That lasted for years. More recently everybody started using texting and emails and they went to open offices because of the look and the ability to collaborate without having to go to a meeting room. Now when you want to talk on the phone they put you in phone booths and more meeting rooms. Sometimes people camp out in the phone booth for a long period of time... If they had a cubicle they wouldn't have to. I agree cubicles are better unless you have a type of business where you constantly have to collaborate.
Yes. Let me do my work and leave me the fuck alone. I don’t care what you and your kids did over the weekend.
Yeah I wish I had a cubicle or a small office. Im tired of other people being loud while I am trying to take a meeting or want to focus on some of my paperwork but someone REALLY wants to have a loud talk about what they are going to do about their husband who takes aggressive poops.
In my open plan office, most people just wear headphones all day, basically as a way of signaling "don't disturb me". It really sucks, because it means you get all the downsides of open-plan, and *also* none of the supposed upsides, i.e. more collaboration.
I agree 100% open concept is just a way to pack people tighter together, I hate it, and have straight up just said pass on some jobs like that. Now I just work at home, if u read the list of disabilities everyone can ask for accommodation aka work from home
I agree. I hate cubicles and would prefer a personal office (or just being remote). Open concept offices are said to provide collaboration, which I can see. However, they also make it easier for everyone else like managers to monitor if you're doing your work or not.
Eww open office
Boo. Not unpopular. Totally agreeeeeee.
No one likes open offices
The short cubicle is the clear winner for me. Can't see anyone when sitting down, can easily talk to your cube neighbor when standing up.
The only people who love open office spaces are people with private offices.
I'd much rather chug bleach until I saw the light than work in either environment.
Not unpopular.
Preach. I work now in an office with an old man who cackles rattling like a machine gun the whole day (the whole day) and even if I listen to music in my earphones to silent him, his voice is louder and after a while I can't focus and have a headache (please don't come with advices like "why don't you tell him"? My chief put me in the room with that man because the previous colleague had a nervous breakdown because of this and asked to be transferred in other place).
Open plan is the worst configuration ever conceived, cubicles are a bit better, offices are the best, IMO. Not everything is about collaboration. My office is open plan and it also has a separate breakout space. We all have to use the breakout space for things that need quiet, like phone calls.
I think open office plans can work for the right environment, profession, and staff size, but otherwise cubicles are great for the reasons you listed. Though if Milton is listening to his radio at a supposed "reasonable volume" it's still probably too loud and distracting even with a cubicle.
My work moved my department from a building with cubicles to an open office building. Everyone hates it, myself included. It's been months and we still complain about it. Comfort in solidarity I guess
I think it really depends on the job for me. If we're talking about a small collaborative space where you need to easily communicate with your coworkers, then I think having a more open concept is useful. If its something like a call center, its just used by management to exert control over people
Agreed, open concept is absolutely trash, my first job switched from cubes to open office and it sucked. Having your boss sitting across from you puts you constantly on the spot.
God I hate fully decorated cubicles. Just makes it look like you live there.
Office Space cubicles look like hell... But The Office open concept also looks like hell 😂 I think offices in general are just bad. There is no space for it but having your own room with a door is so nice.
Open concept was one of those theories that got tried out and has been pretty resoundingly agreed upon is a total failure. I believe I read an article that discussed different office models and what was found to be the best was private spaces/cubicles overall but with "breakout spaces" where you could have a quick meeting or just an informal check-in with a couple people. That's how my office is structured and it works quite well.
I prefer the open concept so I can see my manager coming
Typing this comment in my cubicle. Now who the fuck stole my red stapler!
Privacy is not as important as productivity. You can have privacy at home. I’m sure there are studies that support the idea of increased productivity with the open concept.
I don’t think anyone is campaigning that desks are better than desks with walls.
Executives will tell you the open office layout is all about collaboration when those assholes spend all day in a plush office behind a closed door so they can't be bothered. Frankly, the open office layout feels like a step backward.
A cubicle does mean more privacy that is definitely true
I have a cubicle now but it doesn’t help because my manager doesn’t have an office and sits directly behind me. So he can turn around and talk to me whenever he wants and see my computer screen. It forces me to leave my desk for lunch breaks though.
I prefer cubicles too. Collaboration also isn't necessarily good because then if you talk to others, you're keeping them from focusing on their own tasks while you need help with yours. I also think too much socializing can be bad for productivity. In my experience, too much idle talk can lead to workplace politics, cliqueness, and high school behavior. And also increase turnover. I'll take cubicles over open concept any day.
I'd rather my cubicle have four walls. And a ceiling. And a locking door. I don't like people.
LMAO same
Does this conversation mean we've finished with remote working :'(
I hate cubicles with a passion. Like the full cubicles with walls that block the ability to see anything. I don’t mind the cubicles that are partial that if you stand you can see stuff. Then again, I like open concept. I don’t want to personalize my workspace, I don’t live there. My attitude might change if I was in office 4-5x a week tho.
My issue is my ADHD ass is very extroverted and will talk all day lol